The Maw Cluster, or simply The Maw as it was sometimes called, was an unstable and mostly unnavigable cluster of black holes located near the planet Kessel. The only reason the Maw was visible was due to the ionizing gases being drawn into it.

The stability of the cluster itself was something of a mystery, with some believing that an advanced civilization might have constructed it, rather than it merging together like a normal cluster would. In 44 ABY, the Jedi Order learned from the Thuruht hive that the Maw was created by Thuruht and other Killik hives to serve as a prison for the dark side entity Abeloth. Under the direction of the Son and Daughter (who had joined the hivemind), the Killiks created Centerpoint Station and Sinkhole Station. Centerpoint was used by The Ones to create the Maw itself, while Sinkhole Station was built to maintain the prison from within.

Because of the intense gravity of the black holes, the entire Kessel system was slowly drawn into the Maw. The stability of the cluster itself was something of a mystery, with some believing that an advanced civilization might have constructed it, rather than it merging together like a normal cluster would.[7]

Most of the area of the Maw was saturated in radiation, plasma, and strong gravitational forces. Any ship's captains that neared the edge of the Maw would notice pieces of their ships being pulled apart, and some smugglers and criminals used it as a shortcut past the Kessel Run.

The Maw was the site of Grand MoffWilhuff Tarkin's Maw Installation, where the Death Star prototype and most of the first Death Star was built, although it was completed at Despayre. Tarkin knew that the Maw's near-inaccessibility and remoteness made it easy for him to hide the project. The installation was actually located within a safe zone inside the cluster discovered just prior to the start of the project.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Lando Calrissian sponsored the construction of a space station called Shelter, which was built with the remains of Maw Installation as a refuge for fugitive Jedi Knights. Shelter was located at the very heart of the Maw and at one point housed the wartime generation of Jedi apprentices and surviving Jedi Praxeum students.[5]

During the New Jedi Order's conflict with the entity Abeloth, in 44 ABY, the Jedi Order learned from the Thuruht hive that the Maw was created by Thuruht and other Killik hives to serve as a prison for Abeloth.[8]